An avid sci-fi and fantasy reader who sometimes does historical fiction or even mainstream.
You might notice that most of my reviews are 5 stars. That's because if I start reading a book that doesn't engage me, I stop reading it. Life is too short. I've realized that it's not fair to review a book I haven't read and nobody really needs to hear why I didn't get into a book especially when they might like it.
My goals with reviews are to be brief and give other potential readers an idea of why they might like the book. I leave it to the marketing people and other reviewers to describe the plots.
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"Stephen Leeds, AKA 'Legion, ' is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to …
It's fun reading about a character who seems to have all sorts of amazing experts living in his head. It was particularly cool how he considered what others thought was a mental illness to be an asset.
Sci-fi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is back on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris …
Murderbot is a delight.
Hyper competent at dealing with danger.
Hopeless at interpersonal dealings.
This is a strong finish to the trilogy.
I especially like the "servicer" characters, who are basically sentient robots that the humans are barely aware of as thinking beings. I hope Yoon Ha Lee gives us more of them.
"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, …
This is a charming series and I loved spending time with Murderbot.
I think this might be a good series for people who want to try science fiction because they like things like Star Trek, but don't like most sci-fi they have tried.
The stories are pretty short. Not too short for a full story to be told, but too short for someone who wants to spend a lot of time with the delightful Murderbot. (Spoiler Alert: Murderbot isn't actually a murderer. It's more a life-saver.)
These were well written stories, but they were bleak. And lately, I'm not in the mood for bleak stories.
In Hank Green's sweeping, cinematic debut novel, a young woman becomes an overnight celebrity before …
It was fun watching how someone could use Youtube and other social media to deal with alien first contact.
But for a serious sci-fi fan, I wanted more aliens.
It's fun reading about a character who seems to have all sorts of amazing experts living in his head. It was particularly cool how he considered what others thought was a mental illness to be an asset.
This is a strong finish to the trilogy.
I especially like the "servicer" characters, who are basically sentient robots that the humans are barely aware of as thinking beings. I hope Yoon Ha Lee gives us more of them.
"My Documents is the latest work from Alejandro Zambra, the award-winning Chilean writer whose first …
These were well written stories, but they were bleak. And lately, I'm not in the mood for bleak stories.
Desiring to be emperor of the Broken Empire, young King Jorg Ancrath of the seven …
A satisfying finish to the trilogy.
Set in the same empire as the "Thorns" books, but a completely different protagonist, this time, one who was inspired by Harry Flashman of [b:Flashman|142458|Flashman (The Flashman Papers, #1)|George MacDonald Fraser|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320656064s/142458.jpg|1137467].
Now, I read all the Flashman books back in the 80s, and I'll admit, I got a bit tired of him, but I never tired of Prince Jalan.
Plus he travels with the bravest and strongest Viking you could imagine, and who doesn't love a good Viking?
SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris …
Murderbot is a delight.
Hyper competent at dealing with danger.
Hopeless at interpersonal dealings.
In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the …
Between this book and Stranger Things, I get the impression that my life would have gone better if Dungeons and Dragons had been a thing in the early 70s and I'd found a few people to play it with.
If you're into this series, you'll read this book.
If you're thinking about getting into the series, I'd suggest starting with [b:Three Parts Dead|13539191|Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence, #1)|Max Gladstone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1333049511s/13539191.jpg|19101555], which was the first book written although not the first by chronological setting.
And with this book, you can be confident that the series continues to be interesting and fun.
I always thought that if I ever wrote a book, I'd want to put every wacky idea I had into that book. So, I probably wouldn't be able to write a second book. Max Gladstone had all kinds of fresh, new wacky ideas for this book and this is the sixth book in the Craft Sequence. There is no sign that he is running out of these ideas and so I think he must have an amazing ability to generate them.
[Here's a funny thing: This listing is for "The …
If you're into this series, you'll read this book.
If you're thinking about getting into the series, I'd suggest starting with [b:Three Parts Dead|13539191|Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence, #1)|Max Gladstone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1333049511s/13539191.jpg|19101555], which was the first book written although not the first by chronological setting.
And with this book, you can be confident that the series continues to be interesting and fun.
I always thought that if I ever wrote a book, I'd want to put every wacky idea I had into that book. So, I probably wouldn't be able to write a second book. Max Gladstone had all kinds of fresh, new wacky ideas for this book and this is the sixth book in the Craft Sequence. There is no sign that he is running out of these ideas and so I think he must have an amazing ability to generate them.
[Here's a funny thing: This listing is for "The Ruin of Angels" and that is what it says on title page of the copy I borrowed from the library, but the cover and spine just say "Ruin of Angels". I wonder what is up with that.]
"Forty years after the God Wars, Dresediel Lex bears the scars of liberation--especially in the Skittersill, a poor district still …
